Dead Sea Scrolls Going Online

“We are establishing a milestone connection between progress and the past to preserve this unique heritage for future generations. At the end of a comprehensive and profound examination, we have succeeded in recruiting the best minds and technological means to preserve this unrivaled cultural heritage treasure which belongs to all of us, so that the public with a click of the mouse will be able to freely access history in its fullest glamour.”

- Shuka Dorfman, Director, Israel Antiquities Authority

Scholar working with Dead Sea Scroll images on computer. The Israel Antiquities Authority is collaborating with the Google R&D center in Israel to upload all 30,000 Dead Sea Scrolls fragments, as well as additional data that will allow users to perform searches across a broad range of data in a number of languages and formats. Image 2010 courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority.

October 21, 2010 Jerusalem, Israel - The entire collection of 900 Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts made from 30,000 Dead Sea Scroll fragments are being digitally photographed by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Google's Research and Development center in Israel to put the entire historic writings online. According to the Antiquities Authority, the digital Dead Sea Scrolls will be equal in quality to actually viewing them in person.

NASA space age multi-spectral imaging technology will be used to produce high-resolution images of the sometimes-faded texts that may reveal new letters and words. The estimated cost of $3.5-million will be funded by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Google R&D's division in Israel. The entire Dead Sea Scroll collection will be made available online free of charge online in a searchable database complemented by translations. The first images could go online in the next few months, with the project completed within five years.

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